Need some advice on what to upgrade

[NiloticShadow]

Hey guys, I was recently getting back into gaming after a long break and was hoping that maybe I could get some advice on what things I should upgrade in order to play most, if not, all games on max settings at a playable frame rate (preferably 60fps but I’m okay with it dipping below that mark). Can’t go higher than 60fps anyway due the refresh rate of the monitor. The current build I have was made the time when I didn’t know much about PC specs and it shows. :P

The only things I have in mind about upgrades is the graphics card and power supply. I was thinking of getting a GTX 670 but then changed my mind when I recently checked that the 770 is much cheaper for some strange reason. I’ve checked out a lot of benchmarks between the two cards but if there’s any other suggestions let me know. When it comes to power supplies I know very little about it, so I’m struggling there.
Here are my specs:

Motherboard: P8H61-M LE/USB3 (No SLI or Crossfire support)[www.asus.com]
Operating System Version: Windows 7 (64 bit)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
CPU: Intel i5 2400 3.10GHz
Monitor Refresh Rate: 59 Hz
Desktop Resolution: 1680 x 1050 (16:10)
RAM: 4060 Mb
HD: 500 GB
Power Supply: 450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan

I'm willing to spend anywhere between £400-500. Thanks for the help!

[Inquisitor Germanicus]

The GTX 670 is being taken out of production and is becoming a collector's item, which is why it is costing more. The GTX 760 is it's equal pretty much and the GTX 770 is the GTX 680 re-branded.

Your setup is similar to mine (i7-2600 & P8H67-M Pro), I got a GTX 770 myself. So ya, get the GTX 770 and a new psu at least 600w or 750w preferrably if you can spare a few pounds. It'll stress it out less especially, if you do some OC'ing. Then get another 4gb ram and a monitor to really enjoy your new baby.
http://store.steampowered.com

I selected 2x4gb ram, I'm not sure what brand or speed you got but just in case.

[Maddog]

your video card is the weak link here, i'm running a custom video card from MSI the GTX 670 pe/oc 2mb.....i'm not upgrading 'till prices settle down a bit and mabye wait until Maxwell is out next year....
can you o/c your cpu ? and what type of cooler do you have on it ?.
another 4 gb ram wouldn't go amiss,preferably 2 x 4gb sticks in your blue ram slots.
just take your upgrades one step at a time ?.


system :- case is Fractal Design midi 2
motherboard is ASUS Sabretooth rev 2.00
cpu is AMD 8350 FX @4.7 ghz (watercooled with Swifftech H220/4x Noctua 120 mm
fans in push-pull
RAM is 8gb Corsair red low profile
gpu is MSI 670 GTX OC/PE
sound card ASUS Xonar dx
power supply Corsair 860w
system fans = 4 x 140 mm Noctua
os is dual boot Windows7 Ultimate 64 /Windows 8.1. Pro 64
storage is Crucial 256 gb ssd boot drive
Western Digital Caviar Black 1 tb

[_I_]

2nd gen i5 should be fine yet, just need a better gpu, maybe a power supply if a better one is needed

what brand/model is your 450w?

[NiloticShadow]

German Chocolate の投稿を引用：

The GTX 670 is being taken out of production and is becoming a collector's item, which is why it is costing more. The GTX 760 is it's equal pretty much and the GTX 770 is the GTX 680 re-branded.

Your setup is similar to mine (i7-2600 & P8H67-M Pro), I got a GTX 770 myself. So ya, get the GTX 770 and a new psu at least 600w or 750w preferrably if you can spare a few pounds. It'll stress it out less especially, if you do some OC'ing. Then get another 4gb ram and a monitor to really enjoy your new baby.
http://store.steampowered.com

I selected 2x4gb ram, I'm not sure what brand or speed you got but just in case.

Ah, that explains it. So I guess the processor I have won't cause any bottleneck issues then.

When it comes to ram I have 4GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB). It looks like I'm gonna have to replace those two cards entirely, I could do with more ram. 750w sounds like the ideal choice but does it come with warranty? People emphasize about getting a power supply with one.

Hm, I did originally have thoughts of getting a newer monitor, a wider one, but there's so many to choose from. But I hear LEDs are great and I'm sure Asus can provide a decent one.

Maddog の投稿を引用：

your video card is the weak link here, i'm running a custom video card from MSI the GTX 670 pe/oc 2mb.....i'm not upgrading 'till prices settle down a bit and mabye wait until Maxwell is out next year....
can you o/c your cpu ? and what type of cooler do you have on it ?.
another 4 gb ram wouldn't go amiss,preferably 2 x 4gb sticks in your blue ram slots.
just take your upgrades one step at a time ?.


system :- case is Fractal Design midi 2
motherboard is ASUS Sabretooth rev 2.00
cpu is AMD 8350 FX @4.7 ghz (watercooled with Swifftech H220/4x Noctua 120 mm
fans in push-pull
RAM is 8gb Corsair red low profile
gpu is MSI 670 GTX OC/PE
sound card ASUS Xonar dx
power supply Corsair 860w
system fans = 4 x 140 mm Noctua
os is dual boot Windows7 Ultimate 64 /Windows 8.1. Pro 64
storage is Crucial 256 gb ssd boot drive
Western Digital Caviar Black 1 tb

Sounds like a good call but I'm not sure how much cheaper they will go down by the time the new cards hit the stores.

I'm pretty sure my cpu can be oc but I haven't attempted it before. And because I got the system built by PCSPECIALIST (which prob cost more for them to make it than to just build it myself) I chose to go with Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Cooler[www.amazon.co.uk]. I'll consider upgrading the ram. Btw that's cool spec you got, made me totally forget about getting an ssd!

_I_ の投稿を引用：

2nd gen i5 should be fine yet, just need a better gpu, maybe a power supply if a better one is needed

what brand/model is your 450w?

Well that's good to know, at start I was beginning to think that I'll have to replace everything. I don't think it's from a reputable brand, but correct me if I'm wrong: FSP Group Inc. Had to open up my case just to find out, wasn't mentioned in the website I had it built from.

[Inquisitor Germanicus]

Yes, the GTX 770 and 750w psu have 3 years each. The brands are your choice, so the monitor can be BenQ LED, gpu can be Asus, psu can be Corsair, etc. Just giving you an idea with brands I trust. A heads up though, OCZ is declaring bankruptcy. Don't be shy about asking which brands are reputable.

Asus, EVGA and PNY are good for Nvidia gpu's. Asus includes a backplate with their cards which add sturdiness and help keep it cool.

For the psu make sure it says 80 plus bronze or better, don't get the cheap crap because you could destroy your whole system. Corsair, EVGA and Seasonic are good brands. Modular is best, semi-modular is still good so you don't have wires everywhere.

Your cpu isn't that old, it's only around 2 years old. Bottlenecking is always over-emphasized by too many people without proper understanding. Unless you got a slow or outdated cpu, it won't be an issue.

Some further confirmation for you:

Witcher 3: i5-2400/GTX 770/12gb ram
http://store.steampowered.com

Dead Island Riptide i5-2400/GTX 770/12gb ram
http://store.steampowered.com

i5-2400 (4 cores/3.1 ghz) vs. fx-6300 (6 cores/3.5 ghz)
http://store.steampowered.com

[NiloticShadow]

German Chocolate の投稿を引用：

Yes, the GTX 770 and 750w psu have 3 years each. The brands are your choice, so the monitor can be BenQ LED, gpu can be Asus, psu can be Corsair, etc. Just giving you an idea with brands I trust. A heads up though, OCZ is declaring bankruptcy. Don't be shy about asking which brands are reputable.

Asus, EVGA and PNY are good for Nvidia gpu's. Asus includes a backplate with their cards which add sturdiness and help keep it cool.

For the psu make sure it says 80 plus bronze or better, don't get the cheap crap because you could destroy your whole system. Corsair, EVGA and Seasonic are good brands. Modular is best, semi-modular is still good so you don't have wires everywhere.

Your cpu isn't that old, it's only around 2 years old. Bottlenecking is always over-emphasized by too many people without proper understanding. Unless you got a slow or outdated cpu, it won't be an issue.

I read about that earlier, I'll be sure to avoid that brand. I suppose that means everything they've manufactured till this day won't come with a valid warranty, including ssd. But I'm sure that means the prices for them will go way low at some point.

I think I'm gonna go with Asus for a graphics card, their fans produce less sound than the others. And thanks for informing me about that one. So no major difference between bronze, silver or gold psu?

Interesting sources... I checked out that same witcher video the other day, it seems to run well without uber sampling from what I read in the comments. It adds nothing special to the game anyway. The game seems to be badly optimized like the first one, which kinda sucks. I know for a fact that games like metro 2033/last light won't run at constant 60fps.

[Rove]

For the best value and probably as much or more perfornace as you could want here is my recommendation:

AMD Radeon R9 280X + 750w 80 Plus Gold fully modular PSU.
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2cgsf
Total: £320.62

This PSU has a 10 year warranty with registration.

If you want to push your budget to the max and spend everything you can afford at around 400 and 500 GBP respectively then one of these in order of price not performance:

AMD Radeon R9 290 + 760w 80 Plus Platinum fully modular PSU.
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/1ZlwB
Total: £423.20

Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 + 760w 80 Plus Platinum fully modular PSU.
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2cgHl
Total: £503.69

AMD Radeon R9 290X + 760w 80 Plus Platinum fully modular PSU.
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2cgPe
Total: £548.70

Personally I like AMD as I believe they are better value for your dollar on high-end GPUs. However I want to note that anything above either R9 280X for AMD or GTX 760 for Nvidia is disproportionately overpriced and you will see nowhere near the % increase to your performance as you do to your spendings. The R9 280X is currently as high as I would recommend going to still be able to say that you got "fair value" on your purchase.

[NiloticShadow]

Rove の投稿を引用：

For the best value and probably as much or more perfornace as you could want here is my recommendation:

AMD Radeon R9 280X + 750w 80 Plus Gold fully modular PSU.
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2cgsf
Total: £320.62

This PSU has a 10 year warranty with registration.

If you want to push your budget to the max and spend everything you can afford at around 400 and 500 GBP respectively then one of these in order of price not performance:

AMD Radeon R9 290 + 760w 80 Plus Platinum fully modular PSU.
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/1ZlwB
Total: £423.20

Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 + 760w 80 Plus Platinum fully modular PSU.
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2cgHl
Total: £503.69

AMD Radeon R9 290X + 760w 80 Plus Platinum fully modular PSU.
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2cgPe
Total: £548.70

Personally I like AMD as I believe they are better value for your dollar on high-end GPUs. However I want to note that anything above either R9 280X for AMD or GTX 760 for Nvidia is disproportionately overpriced and you will see nowhere near the % increase to your performance as you do to your spendings. The R9 280X is currently as high as I would recommend going to still be able to say that you got "fair value" on your purchase.

Thanks for your recommendation. I've never really owned an AMD product before but I know about their advantages (like low prices compared to competitors and less power consumption) but when it comes to playing older games I tend to see compatibility issues that appear only with their cards. And I do from time to time like to go back to those games. But I'll consider it still, seeing how much cheaper it is. :)